Archive for month: August, 2009

In the big picture there are really only three things we need to grow a Mature Business.

Clarity

Successful business owners know where they are going and when they intend to be there. They have a vision for the future that drives everything they do. Do you know where you’re going? What does your business look like at Maturity? Get clarity on where you’re going – it’s the first step in growing a Mature Business.

Hope

When we get Clarity on where we’re going, that creates Hope. We know where we’re going and we have something to begin to invest in mentally and emotionally that gets us excited about the future. He who aims at nothing hits it every time, but those who have a clear direction are busy getting after it. Do you have Hope for your business? If not, you need more Clarity on where you’re going and when you expect to be there.

Risk

Clarity brings Hope, and Hope allows us to take measured Risks to get there. Bob Parsons says “Get and stay out of your comfort zone.” It’s the only way to grow a business. Ray Krock was a little more blunt – “If you don’t want to take risks, get the hell out of business.” If you aren’t taking Risks, you don’t have Hope, probably because you don’t have Clarity on where you’re going.

Clarity creates Hope, and Hope allows us to take Risks. Successful business owners have all three.

Are you wandering through your business wondering what it could be like when/if…?

We almost always get something close to what we intend. Most people never think about what they want out of life, so they never figure out what their business should look like to support a life of significance. As a result, most people never accomplish the things that would have made their lives count for so much more. We wander through life wondering how it could be different.

I talk to people all the time who can give me some picture of an idyllic life they find attractive, but being able to verbalize what something might look like some time in the undefined future is much different than intending to achieve it.

Let’s not wander through life wondering what we could have done if….

Bad plans carried out violently many times yield good results. It’s not how good your plan is, but how commited you are to the bad plan you’ve got. What does your ideal lifestyle look like? What impact are you making. WHEN do you want to be there?

What does your business need to look like to support your ideal lifestyle. WHEN will it get there (maturity)?

Clarity brings Hope, and Hope allows us to take measured Risks. Wandering through our business only makes us wonder what it could have been like if…

/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/logo-2.png00chuckblakeman/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/logo-2.pngchuckblakeman2009-08-23 01:12:402016-01-15 20:05:17Wandering and Wondering In Business

More often than not, we catch what we pursue, not what we envision. Contrary to a commonly held popular narrative, we aren’t successful by just envisioning what we want. There are three legs to the Success Stool, not just one:

1) Vision

Know where you’re going and when you want to be there. Don’t know that? Don’t bother with anything else. If you didn’t know where you were going on vacation and when you wanted to be there, how would you know when to start packing your car and what to put in it? It’s a big duh, I know. Yet we never think to apply the same duh to our business.

Do you know where you’re going in your business (what does it look like at Maturity), and when you want to be there? Of course not. Yet you’re out there every day packing your business car with no idea where you’re going or when you want to be there. Until you know the outcome you are shooting for a few years from now, can describe it in detail, and know exactly when you intend to be there, you’re not building a business, your just making money.

And making money is killing your business. Stop making money and figure out what your business will look like when it’s making money for you. Put a date on when you intend to be there and watch the fireworks begin. Put a time of day on it, too, that will really get the Business Maturity clock ticking in your head. My Business Maturity Date (BMD) is Friday, February 18, 2011, at 10am. What’s yours?

2) Skill development

There isn’t a golfer on the PGA tour that doesn’t know their statistics, which makes it clear what their strengths and weaknesses are so they can train with a purpose. We call them professionals. We all want to be called business professionals, yet most of us don’t have any numbers we follow religiously, and as a result, have no clue what skills we should be developing. We wing it through every business day, putting band-aids on broken legs and wondering why The Tyranny of the Urgent rules our day. If we were truly professionals we would have a plan for professional development and be committed to it. We all want to be the best in our class, until we actually have to practice to get there. Too many of us are just playing air guitar – we’re faking it.

3) Diligence

Diligence is the mature form of discipline. Discipline is the short-term act of preparing for a marathon by following the training schedule. Diligence is the act of running all your life to stay fit. If you develop the art of diligence and not just discipline, you’ll be much more likely to be successful over the long haul and get to your Business Maturity Date.

Discipline can get us to a short-term objective, but diligence will take us all the way to the end. Diligence breeds quiet resolve toward long-term goals. And it is founded in conation – the will to succeed that manifests itself in single-minded pursuit of a goal (John McClintock’s definition in Self-Made in America).

Vision isn’t enough to get us where we want to go. It’s a map. We still have to get on the trail and walk in the right direction.

Having a plan to develop our skills isn’t of any value if you don’t have a “big why” for doing so, and the diligence to develop them for the long haul.

Discipline and diligence aren’t enough. I know plenty of people who are committed to doing the same things every day who have know idea why, and have never thought about where it’s taking them.

We need Vision, Diligence, and a plan for developing the right Skills. Put all three of these together and that is the Law of Intentionality – I know where I’m going, I know what I need to do to get there, and I’m committed to whatever I have to do to make it happen.

You’re much more likely to get somewhere if you put all three of these legs on your business stool.

/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/logo-2.png00chuckblakeman/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/logo-2.pngchuckblakeman2009-08-13 01:12:452016-01-15 20:05:17The Law of Intentionality – it’s no secret.